


Contribution

by Ayleid



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-22
Updated: 2016-12-06
Packaged: 2018-09-01 12:25:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8624422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ayleid/pseuds/Ayleid
Summary: During his life, Gabriel Reyes had gotten to know himself better whenever a period of hardship would challenge his skills and knowledge but not once did he ever imagine how easily a half-year old human being would turn his entire life upside down. He was prepared for many things; drug busts and negotiations with the military police but when a half-year old boy crashed into his well-organized and meticulously planned lifestyle, Gabriel Reyes accepted the challenge.This is a drabble collection of an on-going bigger story about Gabriel Reyes, chief of the secret police adopting a half-year old Jesse McCree.





	1. Beginnings

**Author's Note:**

> This is for all those who have dad-Reyes feels. I tried. I had intense dad-Reyes feels and this is the outcome.

Beginnings weren’t easy, as many would say. Beginnings were full of surprises, unexpected crises and in some cases, dirty diapers. A lot of dirty diapers. The amount of dirty diapers that perplex and leave a grown man speechless. 

In some cases, the problem could be fixed quickly and without any of the unnecessary mess and Gabriel Reyes was proud of both himself and Jesse. Even though the little meatbag of smiles and kicks wasn’t much help, in fact he was the source of all the stinking mess that poured on Gabriel Reyes’s life and left it in a dumpster of dirty diapers. 

Of course, there were bound to be incidents. They were rare, but when no matter how hard Reyes tried to stabilize the situation and keep Jesse’s hygiene and his own temper in check, somehow the events spiralled out of control. As it happened this time, Reyes was holding a half-year old Jesse over his arm in the mall’s public bathroom, washing the babe’s hind quarters in the sink and with absolute concentration, tried his best not to file a complaint against the entire plaza complex. He even gave a shake of his head, utter disapproval burning in his intense gaze as he focused on washing Jesse in pleasantly warm water with one hand while balancing the excited and happy child on his other forearm. 

The boy loved baths and playing with water, so with his butt getting gradually clean again, Jesse was happily giggling and eating his own fingers, successfully drenching the sleeves and the front of his onesie as well. He was a utter hygienic disaster and Reyes tried his best to keep him clean. Relatively. To his best abilities. He’d read about this stuff, after all. 

He shifted his arm and angled Jesse a bit so he could turn him around easier and lay him on his back on the baby blanket. With another shake of his head, Reyes mentally kicked himself for not cleaning the surface with antibacterial wipes before putting the blanket on it. It was a true emergency, his memory recalled. Jesse was in distress by the time they got to the bathroom; the little man’s face was distorted into a mixture of horror and pure shock, unable to produce a sound. At the sight Gabriel had felt sympathy and the familiar, undeniable urge to be swift and careful so that he could quickly and precisely clean his little fellow from the mess… if the slow line at the cashier’s wouldn’t last so long! 

As a staunch protector of the people in this town in the back-end of nowhere, sometimes Gabriel felt like all his compassion and patience was being challenged by the residents and their peculiarities. How could someone forget putting the price sticker on a bag of vegetables these days? 

In the present, Jesse’s warm, adoring eyes wrapped him in fond glee in the moment their gazes met. The tall, strong figure of Gabriel Reyes slightly bent forth as he enveloped the boy into his arms from both sides and placed a kiss on his forehead. “It’s alright,” he said between them, both to Jesse and himself.

When the baby was laid on the blanket again and Gabriel dug in the baby-bag for more wipes, the door of the bathroom opened and Reyes immediately cleared all softness from his features. Jesse continued to be entranced by the sensation babies have when they suckle on their fingers, while his stepfather did his best to wrap him in a new diaper. This time, with no kicking and futile attempts to roll on his tummy, Jesse let the man work swiftly and be done in a few moments time.

“Hello Mr. Reyes--  _ oh _ he is so big already!” The young man that had just entered the bathroom  exclaimed in joy, his hands rising to his cheeks. At the loud noise, Jesse’s gaze immediately landed on the newcomer and curiously sized him up and down; in the meantime Gabriel took a tiny foot and placed it back in the fluffy, full-cotton onesie. 

“Thanks, Lúcio.”

The young man walked closer to them, his advance followed by Jesse’s eyes.

“They grow so fast! How have you been, Mr. Re--” stopping mid-sentence, Lúcio’s brows knit into a perplexed line as his eyes cast from Gabriel to Jesse, then back at Gabriel. The other man pursed his lips in wary anticipation, reflexively flexing and cracking a joint in his index finger while his hands still lingered above the buttons on Jesse’s onesie. The bathroom stunk, the blanket wasn’t on an antibacterial surface, Jesse’s back was on said blanket and Lúcio was taking up valuable time; Reyes’s frustration quickly rose as quick as the germs and bacteria could climb through the now dirty blanket. 

“Yes, Lúcio? We have been well, but I’d prefer to leave this place as soon as I can. It’s not clean.”

“Sir, may I ask a question?”

“Go ahead, but quickly! You can visit us anytime if you want to talk.” He turned, sharper than he intended and Lúcio nonchalantly nodded in agreement.

“I know, it’s just that, sir, I don’t think that’s how you’re supposed to tie a diaper?”

In nothing but well guarded perplexity, Reyes looked down and inspected the subject matter. Jesse was happily chewing on his tiny nails and looking at him calmly as if the two adult men weren’t discussing the state of his diaper. Gabriel raised a questioning eyebrow.

“I tried the method they showed on the package and believe me, it’s no use for Jesse.”

“Ah, but… let me try something?” The young man walked around Gabriel to wash his hands.  Gabriel stepped aside and gave a few caresses to Jesse’s little head, evening the brown locks on his forehead.

Lúcio rubbed his freshly washed hands together to warm his fingers a little before opening the new diaper and tying it up in a different, indeed easier way. Gabriel’s analytic gaze followed his movements until the young man was done and looked him in the eye again.

“See, Mr Reyes? Now he doesn't look like a Christmas package.”

Scoffing, Gabriel’s eyes knit into a fine line of disagreement.

“I like Christmas, it’s right after Halloween. What if I prefer him looking like a Christmas package?”

Jesse happily kicked a few times in the air and seemed to enjoy all the attention. Lúcio’s hearty chuckle was a gleeful vibration in the public bathroom, the young man gave space once more to Reyes and watched as the father re-dressed his small son into the onesie.

“As you see best, sir.”

“I’ll try the method you showed but with Jesse, the easiest ways never work.”

Never was he more right in his life. 

. . .

During his life, Gabriel Reyes had gotten to know himself better whenever a period of hardship would challenge his skills and knowledge but not once did he ever imagine how easily a half-year old human being would turn his entire life upside down. He was prepared for many things; drug busts, negotiations with the military police, seemingly endless paperwork and gunfights but when a half-year old boy crashed into his well-organized and meticulously planned lifestyle, Gabriel Reyes accepted the challenge. 

Jesse McCree was a calm, smiling boy who had turned Reyes’s adventurous and just as dangerous life into something entirely different. With a half-year old’s arrival into his life, the man’s well-guarded, professional image dissolved in his neighbor's’ eyes, so did the high-quality and expensive button-ups disappear from his everyday attire. If that wasn’t enough, Jesse soon began to crawl and grab at everything with his puffy little fingers, easily causing Reyes’s heart to jump in nothing less than fright when the little boy almost pulled a kitchen-chair or the smart-tv on to himself. 

His household had quickly gone through major changes; all electric outlets safely plugged and packed away, old chairs replaced with more stable ones, sharp edges covered with foam, all drawers containing sharp objects equipped with child-lock. Even then, when Reyes held a proud hand on his waist and Jesse was lazily lying flat on his other forearm, held horizontally in front of his chest and his little boy’s butt was a steady warmth in Gabriel’s hand, the man often found himself worrying over the most insignificant things remaining. Even though the smart-tv was now securely hanging on the wall and his stereos were safely pinned against the walls as well, Jesse still managed to find the cables and with his chubby fingers, pluck them out of the pins so he could chew on them, not to mention that for an odd reason he loved chewing on the laces of Gabriel’s hoodies.

How he always managed to crawl under the table in record time and bring miniscule heart attacks to Gabriel with slamming his tiny palms the table’s legs, the man could never understand. Everything on the table jostled from the impact, and the sudden sharp noise more than once caused the grown man to jump in surprise. 

Crawling was something that had Gabriel Reyes calling his old-time friend Angela once again just to ask, just why didn’t Jesse crawl the way other seven-months olds did? He had watched videos and checked the books. 

“He is dragging his ass on the floor, he is sitting with a leg crossed and the other extended over it. It’s not crawling, he is wiping the floor with his ass,” his gaze wandered to the aforementioned growing child. Jesse smiled up at him from a few feet and kept dragging himself forward inch by inch. Enthusiastic and happy with his newly mastered skill, even though Gabriel sized him up and down with growing worry. 

On the other side of the line, Angela gently hummed her reply into the phone, “it’s alright, Gabriel. He is sitting nicely and he will learn the right way soon enough. He is doing well, in fact, he seems to be enjoying himself!”

By the time she finished the sentence, Jesse was grabbing at Gabriel’s shins, taking a hold of his sweatpants. The man glanced down, chestnut brown eyes filled with fond concern and a gentle smile found its way through his usually stern features. 

“Gabriel, I saw nothing wrong in the video you sent me. He is fine.”

“Alright. Thank you, Angela.”

“Anytime,” she smiled. “You’re doing a very good job, Gabriel.”

“Thank you,” he crouched and involuntarily caressed Jesse’s head with a fond gesture, even if the boy bent down from his touch to play with Gabriel’s toes instead. “Thank you for helping us through all this, Angela.” 

“Of course, Gabriel. Call me anytime.”

When she hung up, Gabriel picked Jesse up by the armpits and held his kind, round face in front of himself a few inches away as if he would see some non-existent imperfection on the little boy. Jesse reflexively reached forward to touch his father’s cheeks, ran his chubby fingers through his mustache and smiled at him as if Gabriel would be the gilded centre of the entire world.

With a relieved sigh, the officer gently placed the boy onto his chest so his head would be comfortably lying on his shoulder in the crook of his neck. 

“Alright. It’s alright,” he murmured, both to himself and Jesse. “We got this, you and me.”

. . .

It was an understatement to say that before Jesse’s arrival he was wary of handling children. Gabriel did not like holding infants or even talking with kids under the age of five, knowing that a badly phrased response, a slightly stronger hold, a wrong look can cause damage in their development. Since approval, support and understanding were essential in a child’s development, Gabriel had doubts if he could provide those endlessly and continuously without fail. 

That is, until Jesse raised his wonderful, curious and examining gaze on him for the first time and Gabriel knew that the child understood how hesitant Gabriel truly was. When their eyes met and the tiny, growing human’s fingers wrapped around the man’s thumb, all his senses could perceive was the trust, acceptance and fondness Jesse granted him just by holding his gaze and giving him a tentative smile with his soft, small lips. Curious and experimental, Jesse reached with his other chubby hand to hold onto Gabriel’s much bigger fingers and touch him. 

Everything will be alright, Gabriel remembered thinking and whispering between them, and Jesse’s eyes glanced up to see him again. His own gaze relenting from the stern way he usually looked at the world, Gabriel felt fondness and trust seep their way through in the form of a small sigh and the way his eyes enveloped the whole child in love. He would do his best. This small human being would rely and depend on him for many years to come. 

As he wrapped his arms around Jesse’s soft and small figure, carefully and slowly at first. Gabriel felt determination and purpose flow through his entire being, reaching deep down in his core and spread across his limbs. Looking down at the boy, barely over the length of his forearm, the man bent to place the gentlest kiss someone like him could give to such petite creature like this child. 

He could do this. They could do this. Together. It was just him and Jesse after all. They had each other.


	2. Pea Soup and Clapping

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Round one. Jesse McCree vs. Pea Soup 1-0. New skill acquired: clapping hands.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Submission for domestic day for the McReyes week <3 enjoy! :)

Eyes watering up from the torture, Jesse’s trembling lips and his puffed out cheeks was a sight that Gabriel thought he could handle with perseverance. The books and the more experienced people on the station said, babies get used to pre-made canned food quick enough but Jesse…

.. things rarely ever went the easy way with Jesse.

Pleading, begging with his eyes, the half-year old boy let a lone drop of tear cascade down his soft silky cheek, eyelashes fluttering from the heart shattering dramatic moment. In the meantime, Gabriel bit into his lower lip and scooped another portion of mashed pea-soup onto a small spoon and hardened the strings of his heart. He could do this. 

Slowly, accepting the fate of his faith-forsaken life, Jesse let his sorrowful eyes flutter shut and with a desperate yet pleading whine through his closing lips around the spoonful of canned food, Jesse succumbed to the heart-wrenching abandonment of love that seemed to have all but vanished from his short little life.

_ It all had come to this. I trusted you. Why must you feed me this…? _

Gabriel put the spoon down and took a long, defeated sigh. After a gentle massage at his left shoulder under the black shirt, the man cast his own chestnut brown eyes at the small boy and his pea-soup covered bib. This was a disaster. This was not how it was supposed to go.

With another, diminutive sigh Gabriel set the bottle of baby-food aside and at the sound of the glass touching the table, Jesse’s eyes peeked at him in anticipation yet still deeply sunk in sorrow. Reyes leant forth to set his elbows on his knees and look at his son, uniting their gazes even though the little boy’s lips were still dragging downwards in unhappiness. 

“Is it that bad?”

The animators at Ghibli would raise a shrine after witnessing the feat of Jesse McCree tearing up in front of his father because he didn’t like the pea-soup. Gabriel raised an eyebrow at the wholly defeated sight of his son looking up at him like the kicked puppy he was inside. 

With a resigned glance at the ground then up again at Jesse, Gabriel took a small spoonful of the food to taste and reckoned that it wasn’t as good as it should have been but… 

“Whatever am I going to do with you when you get bigger?”

The softest, miniscule tremble of the small sized human’s lips were his only answer, and despite Gabriel knowing that this could easily backfire on him, he shifted and stood up to undo the clip on Jesse’s chair. As the belts fell to the sides, the boy raised his puffy arms up in a silent plea even though Gabriel first reached around his chubby neck to take the drenched bib off.

_ Up! Up! _ Jesse sniffed, dramatically so, grabby hands reaching for Gabriel’s touch.

Clicking his tongue in mild annoyance at the demand, the man picked his son up from the stool and hugged him close by supporting him with both hands across his back. Jesse’s arms wound around him immediately, as if to leech off the warmth of his body and seek reassurance from Gabriel, even though it was his actions which had led to the current situation.

As they stepped to the fridge, little Jesse’s lips were still dragging downwards and his arms were still warmly wrapped around Gabriel. The man gave a reflexive kiss in the baby’s hair as he took the bottle of tropical juice out. “Let’s see if I can make something for you. You like chewing orange, maybe you’ll like it in a smoothie. With apple and banana. Just hold on for a little while, I know you’re hungry. Just a little while,” he cooed, placing another soft kiss into the silky hair, his nose and mind swimming in the wonderful scent of baby-skin. “ _ Jesse, little Jesse _ ,” he hummed in Spanish, and felt the boy’s entire body ease in his hold. “ _ Little Jesse gets food _ . Yey,” he gruffed at the end.

A few minutes later, his dear son was gladly slurping smoothie from the spoon and didn’t have a single stray drop on his fresh, clean bib. The smoothie was tasty and made Jesse happy. With his food being delicious, Jesse’s world was restored to be a good place once again. 

He smiled, eyes wrapping Gabriel’s entire being into a loving, adoring haze, the centre of this little human’s entire world. The man sighed and kept feeding his son, one spoonful after the other until the mug was empty and Jesse kept glancing up and down between Gabriel and the bottom of the mug.  _ More? Where is more? _

With a smile and a kiss into the baby’s hair, Reyes stood to get more smoothie. 

“Looks like I’m gonna end up cooking for you.”

Thus, the drill began. Within the span of a few days, Gabriel Reyes became the proud owner of several books about smoothie-making and providing fresh, nutritious foods for growing, small sized humans. Since Jesse was only seven months old, his options were quite limited due to the still developing digestive system of his son yet Gabriel was determined to provide the best selection of foods Jesse’s growing body needed, and the boy would actually like. 

Even if it included an unprecedented amount of planning when it came to grocery lists, something that Gabriel was not used to, but he swore on all saints that if Jesse loved peach-mango smoothie, then he will make that at least twice a week and for his boy’s comfort, he will avoid using grapes altogether. 

Even if it meant enduring Jesse’s small palms banging on the table while sitting in his stool or crawling around his legs and drooling all over the floor for the entire time Gabriel was occupied with making the boy’s food. He didn’t have any other choice. 

Only the best for Gabriel Reyes’s son.

. . .

Seven months old and just learned how to clap his hands.

Gabriel Reyes had his son sitting in the baby-stool when he heard the sound for the first time, he was washing dishes and Jesse broke out laughing behind him. The little boy already had the habit of hitting the tabletop with the flat of his palm simply to hear the sound, but then… he found his other palm.

Brows knit in concentration and tiny pink tongue sticking out, Jesse clapped his hands again and shot his mud-brown eyes up at Gabriel in wonder. “ _ See that? Magic.” _

“Good job, niño.” 

Again, he did it and this time he giggled at his newfound skill. 

“I know right?” Gabriel let a half-smirk show on his features as he set the last dish aside and leant against the countertop, steadily supporting himself at his waist. Jesse clapped, clapped his chubby little hands and couldn’t stop watching the way his puffy palms bounced off each other, stiff yet soft fingers clashing.

He looked up at Gabriel again, who clapped his hands too, albeit once.

Surprised by the loud noise, Jesse giggled and clapped his own hands in response.

“Great, now you’re gonna be clapping for a while?”

The tip of the child’s tongue peeked from his lips in concentration and glee; not even the abrupt sneeze could throw him off even though Gabriel walked over and wiped Jesse’s tiny nose.

Looking up in nothing less than wonder and love, Jesse clapped his hands at Gabriel and smiled like it was the best day of his entire life. All those seven months.

“If you’re the cutest meatbag on this Earth, clap your hands…”

Jesse happily giggled at the sing-song voice of his father and enthusiastically clapped while Gabriel pulled a chair over and sat down to play ‘patty cake’ with him. It resulted in Jesse gleefully kicking and wiggling in his stool for another one and a half hours, jubilantly clicking with his tongue. Another feat he had learned a few days prior.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is more~~


	3. First Sleepover

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For the first time, Jesse is away for a night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We are not going in linear order so this happens when Jesse is already 3 years old. Everything else will be explained later, I'm putting these up as they go and later reorganize them if needed. :)

Reyes used to be in the illusion that as time went on he would gradually get used to a tiny human creature living in his close proximity and depending on him. It wasn’t difficult to get used to Jesse warmly hugging his neck with his chubby arms and sniffling quietly below his ear while Gabriel was making food with his free hand, or waking up to see a tiny boy climbing into his bed with a big happy smile on his face first thing in the morning. 

Since Jesse loved playing with water and enjoyed all sorts of attention Gabriel gave him, such activities like bathing or dressing weren’t a challenge from the beginning even if some people had warned him about them. Jesse learned quickly and had the fiercest will and awareness of his surroundings Gabriel had ever seen from a small child; his analytic and sharp mud brown eyes followed Gabriel everywhere no matter what he did. Until they were in the same room and Jesse saw him or heard his voice, the boy kept on calmly observing the world around him. 

At the same time, Reyes used to imagine that gradually he'd be more prepared to face crisis situations (why did the baby wipes run out NOW, what to do when a slightly unbalanced toddler learns how to climb out of his crib, how to keep him from climbing onto literally everything in the flat including the kitchen counter and the oven), but as two years ran by, he eventually came to the realization that being a parent meant anything BUT being prepared and feeling no shame about it. 

If the baby wipes ran out, he’d improvise and use something else. 

If Jesse felt like plucking the old laminated floorboards off in the corner with his tiny nails, so be it. The weeks ran by and the accidental scratch marks on his face and chest faded along with them.

As Jesse began going to play-school, he made his first friends and Gabriel blessed all saints and basked in the love of Mary and Holy Christ when the singing sheriff cat was finally forgotten. A peaceful if not very curious Japanese boy by the name Hanzo had charmed Reyes’s small-sized cowboy quickly, and he was the first child to ever walk in Reyes's house beside Jesse. 

The chief of the secret police ended up recording the almost drunk state of happiness when the two boys held hands and gibberishly chatted, laughed for hours as they walked up and down the corridors and played peek-a-boo from behind doors. Apparently that was the best game in existence to the boys and Reyes was only allowed to watch since upon intervening and closing a door snatch completely (the laundry room, how did he dare make that off-limits?!), the boys glared daggers and thunders at him in unison, their small and pudgy necks straining in the effort of looking up at his tall figure. He ended up apologising. 

Apologising to two three year olds. Hanzo pulled his nose up at him like the little lord he was, while Jesse smiled and grabbed his friend's hand again to carry on with their game. Hanzo relented and smiled, his eyes warm and cheerful once again.

Later that evening Hanzo's critical and calculating eyes  _ judged _ Reyes's version of chicken nuggets while Jesse was already digging in and enjoying his dad's cooking. Gabriel was not prepared to endure the look of a three year old nobleman judging him from across the table, even raising an eyebrow in question,  _ how did you think feeding me this will do any good for you? _

He was not prepared for Jesse to be devastated when Hanzo's mom came to pick him up. His little cowboy was so sad and lost like a lone sock without the sight of the other that Reyes ended up hugging and holding him all evening until he fell asleep in his arms. He couldn't put Jesse down for a moment, the boy would raise his grabby hands at him and plead himself back up there. Hanzo was gone, and so was little Jesse's happiness. Reyes liked to think he was prepared, only to be proved time and time again that he was not. Hanzo wrapped his little cowboy around his little finger as if he was a silk ribbon and soon it was him taking Jesse for the little man's first sleepover. Reyes was not prepared to spend the first night completely alone without his son. Did he eat well? Was he playing nice, of course he was, but did he? Were the Shimadas forgiving for Jesse needing a goodnight kiss on his forehead and did they hold his hand? Did the Shimadas put him to sleep in Hanzo's room? Did he have socks on?

And he thought he'd have a night just for himself, watch some adult movies and fall asleep on the couch, undisturbed for an entire night. He ended up re-organizing Jesse's wardrobe to be more space-efficient and finally ironed all the button-ups and slacks he didn't otherwise have time to spare for. He cleaned the top-shelves in the kitchen and washed the fridge inside-out, sorting all the food in there and getting rid of the expired cans in the process. And if that wasn't enough to occupy his mind, the silence all around was the worst. No pitter-patter of tiny feet, no chit-chat about life’s greatest questions, no tugging at his shirt or sleeve, no small hands grabbing and hugging his thighs to plead,  _ up,up! _

Reyes... was not prepared to feel this lost and stumped without Jesse.

. . .

His heart swelled and constricted at the same time when Mrs. Shimada sent him a recording, which she had taken in secret from behind a door, only the camera peeking in Hanzo's room. The two three-year old boys were sitting in the middle of the room, facing each other and playing with toy cars and animals and apparently two tiny plastic dragons adopted a wolf. Jesse’s black hoodie was adorned with a green silk ribbon around his neck while little Hanzo wore Jesse’s sheriff vest. Apparently, they had dressed each other up. 

The camera wavered a bit, mostly likely Mrs. Shimada also felt the need to laugh but then she audibly gasped when Jesse looked Hanzo straight in the eyes and told him, "Hanzo, I love you." 

Reyes remembered his eyes widening and himself gasping in happiness and shock, especially when Hanzo, without missing a beat, gracefully flipped a stray black hair out of his face and replied in fashion, "I love you too, Jesse." 

Jesse smiled, and Gabriel couldn't help but treasure the way his son hesitated to place the plastic wolf on a lego train. Surprisingly, it was Hanzo who spoke next. "And now you sleep here in my room, so we are married." 

Jesse looked up, and Gabriel heard Mrs. Shimada squealing on a barely restrained, high pitch. She could barely breath from withheld laughing. 

"Okay."

"I don't have rings Jesse but I can ask my Mom to get us some from the K-Market or Denmarkt."

"I can ask my dad, though he only has hencuffs and they are big." Reyes laughed out loud. Three year olds.

After recovering from the sensational realization that his son considered sleeping in one bed with someone else as marriage, and being okay with marrying Hanzo at that, Gabriel thought hard and set to re-arrange Jesse’s room for a bit. He truly hoped that Mrs. Shimada would be alright with his next proposal (making sleepovers into a routine), and he called not long after.

The next day, Jesse woke up happy and ticklish from Hanzo’s playful fingers grabbing at his sides; their jubilant play and laughter echoed loud on the walls and woke Genji in his crib. When the baby heard his big brother’s voice gently call to him from the other side of the room, then not soon after saw not only Hanzo but also Jesse appear on the other side of the crib’s bars, Genji calmed and smiled back at them. As a way of greeting, he kicked and shook his chubby fists happily at the other two and turned on his tummy.

As an impromptu decision, Jesse helped Hanzo climb in beside Genji then later joined the brothers by pushing a lego box close to the crib and used it as a stool. Together they snuggled up to the one-year old and played with the baby-toys around to entertain Genji and themselves. 

By the time Mrs. Shimada arrived, all three boys were having a great time in the crib and Genji was happily giggling at the sight of his brother adorned in all sorts of plushies and chewing toys. Mrs. Shimada stopped short in her tracks and after laughing at the image of her oldest son sitting like a sulking lord who tries his best to ignore the humiliation, she took her phone from her bathrobe-pocket and took a few pictures. Several of them had Jesse hugging Hanzo and the little Japanese boy melting from his sulking to hug him back.

Gabriel framed them all. They were standing on the bedroom drawer, right beside all the family pictures he had with Jesse

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look dis how cute they are omg. Babies are awesome. SSHHH three years olds are babies too.


	4. The Sheriff Cat pt. 1.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jesse is 8 months old, and got a plushie cat that sings. Reyes tries his best to cope.

On the one hand, Jesse was a calm child; he only cried when he was truly in distress or experienced unbearable discomfort; on the other hand, he showed a great sense of humor from his earliest ages and had a good taste in people. Gabriel got to know this the first time he brought Jesse to the station and the boy looked with nothing but pure disdain when it came to Gabriel’s boss. 

Since by his calm and observant nature Jesse was a child who could play with his own hands and feet for a long time, the station quickly grew fond of him. As a result, they brought him presents every now and then, and while Reyes appreciated the gestures and accepted the gifts, there was one that drove him up the wall and required all his tactical genius to get rid of…

The Sheriff Cat of dirge and never ending torture. 

“I know she has a pink hat and pink boots, but if he likes it that’s what matters! My son loved this plushie, I washed it twice and put new batteries in it, Gabe,” his colleague reassured him, her voice full of promise and sympathy. “Maybe he will like it and you can get more things done while he’s playing?”

Getting things done with Jesse around wasn’t a challenge in itself, since his curious son was intently watching everything Gabriel was doing, may that be laundry, ironing or cooking. Jesse would even try to help in his own ways, meaning grabbing at clothes and attempting to hand them to Gabriel even if these attempts ended up with his chubby hands flinging the cloth around and then slamming it down exactly where it was. Nonetheless, Reyes appreciated the intent. 

The challenge was putting him to sleep. 

He tried reading him books, but as soon as the story would end and Gabriel would stop reading, Jesse would stir immediately and seek his father’s touch and close presence. He tried music, but Jesse did not like classical music. 

For an unknown reason however, he liked country. Whenever they were in the car and some Southern tune would be on the roster with acoustic guitar, Jesse would calm quickly and forget his exhaustion or discomfort, only to have all his focus on the music. 

The wonder of country music did not stop there, however. When Gabriel noticed this pattern, he actually went to YouTube and made a playlist with his son’s favourite songs and played them while he put him to sleep. While the tactic worked, and Jesse would get comfortably drowsy and doze off in half an hour, that also meant that every single day for half an hour, Gabriel Reyes was holding and gently rocking Jesse with Clint Black’s tunes in the background.

Every single day. 

He hoped that a stuffed toy would bring salvation and make Johnny Cash and the likes truly belong to the past, but not even the singing sheriff cat could get rid of Jesse’s love for country ballads. Permanently, the playlist had become a steadfast companion in Gabriel’s life even if he cringed and shuddered from the cheesy lyrics and characteristic tunes. If Jesse fell asleep in record speed with them in the background, Gabriel would endure this. 

But the singing sheriff cat was still a menace. At first sight, Jesse’s little fingers grabbed onto her fur, checked the cat’s sheriff hat, her vest and soft ears before pursing his lips and trying to shake the toy a few times. With Gabriel holding the plushie steadily, it didn’t work, only caused his father’s thumb to accidentally push at the button which unleashed the dirge of the entire academia of music, the way that cat doll began to sing a horrible imitation of a country song. 

In that minute, when the cat doll began to talk and greeted Gabriel’s son with a  _ howdy _ then proceeded to sing, Jesse became entranced by the horror that was the ‘sing along’ song. His beautiful, curious and amazed brown eyes were fixated on the dancing stuffed toy, lips slightly parting from the awe and his little hand rose to caress the cat’s face in admiration.

When the song ended, he raised his expectant, bright gaze at Gabriel and wiggled, both arms going up and down in joy and anticipation.  _ Again! Again! _

Gabriel Reyes cursed his colleague and the creator of this menace in a very long stream of Spanish then proceeded with pushing the doll’s button in the yellow sheriff-star once again.

Jesse’s expression was priceless when the song started again; joyous like the brightest drop of sunshine, giggling and grinning with all three teeth he had. He slammed his puffy palms down on the tabletop and continued to do so until the song ended. Then, as if on cue, he’d look expectantly at Gabriel again and wiggle his little body.  _ Again! Again! _ If Gabriel would hesitate or refuse to push the button in the sheriff’s star, his son would soon whine then end up crying from the utter lack of compassion of his father. 

Thus, the cat had become a constant companion to Jesse. Even if it did not help falling asleep, Jesse would clutch at the plushie or hug it while in his crib, pressing here and there until eventually he would find the right place and push the button. While it was nice to have his son have some time alone without Gabriel’s supervision, waking up in the middle of the night for a terrible, blurred Southern accent with cheesy country tunes was definitely not how Reyes imagined his life. 

Naturally, he’d checked every option he had. 

He tried taking the batteries off and telling Jesse that the plushie was broken, only to be rewarded with the death glare of an eight months old with the pure and unmistakable message,  _ I know it was you who did this. I know it was you who broke it. I know you hate it, and now you ruined it, and now you dare to tell me it’s broken. _

It did not help Gabriel’s conscience the fact that after the death glare came the long, painfully long and heart-broken cry with which Jesse would grieve the loss of his stuffed friend.

He would still continue to hug the toy, press his face into its embrace and grab at the cat doll with his puffy hands, wailing and sobbing. Whenever he would look at Gabriel, the man would only see grief, sorrow and hopelessness in the gorgeous little mud brown eyes, eight months old and already experiencing the loss of a beloved friend. Jesse couldn’t be comforted, couldn’t be bothered with any other toy or activity the same way, since every time his gaze would find the cat sheriff doll, Gabriel’s eight months old boy would try to push the button and make the cat sing again. Futile attempts, one after the other.

Eventually, Gabriel sneaked the batteries back into the cat sheriff back again and pretended to be happy when Jesse celebrated with happy giggles and wiggling when the cat sang the terrible country song again. Honest-to-God, it could be a successful device for interrogating criminals, especially when the power in the batteries would slowly began to diminish and the words, the tunes would become even more dragged, blurred and slow to a torturing noise.

With the doll singing and dancing again, Jesse’s life became happy once more, even if it meant that Gabriel had to find other tactics to get rid of the stuffed toy and it’s monstrous imitation of a country song. It only meant that he had to outsmart an already sharp and quick-witted now nine-months old. Nothing he couldn’t handle, Gabriel thought one night, as he was already in his bed and Jesse was fast asleep in his crib already.

Plan A was simple. The next day, they would take a walk at the town’s park and Gabriel would  _ accidentally _ lose the cat sheriff. 

A sound, stable and simple plan. He was a member of the secret police in this town, after all, a renowned tactical genius. He had Plan B and C at his disposal if Plan A would be futile. Losing a cat plushie shouldn’t be a challenge to him.

Nothing he couldn’t handle…? 

Things rarely went the easy way, when it came to Jesse McCree. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How did you like this? We're not stopping, oh no. :D

**Author's Note:**

> Huge thanks to Ruriska and haltherobot for giving me so much inspiration!!!


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